Raw Thoughts - May 10

It's been a while since I did this..........

- How long has Kofi been on the opening video (you know the "yes sir we promised you a great main event" one)

- Of all the people I didn't expect to interrupt Randy Orton, Meat Loaf may have been the furthest from my mind.

- Was Meat auditioning for the Hunchback of Notre Dame?

- I'm getting flashbacks to Honky Tonk Man and Kane at Royal Rumble 2001?

- A new permanent GM? Wow. That's hotshotting. They could have built that up a little.

- Mind you, Vickie might have been a bit of a let down. She does admittedly have a lot of heat, but I think her act is played out now, and so is the heel GM

- Would a board of directors in a multi-million dollar organisation really pick someone like Vickie Guerrero to run their main show? No they wouldn't. It made sense when it was Slaughter or HBK or Foley or even William Regal.

- Two one one? Ugh. I hate handicap matches, but especially when Orton and Edge are due to meet one on one. If Edge can't beat Orton easily with help, why would he have a chance when on his own?

- So if Jericho beats DH Smith he and Miz get a title shot? Why? Why would a) a singles match contribute towards tag rankings and b) why would Mizicho be anywhere near the top of those rankings when they have never teamed before?

- This is something I've continually blasted TNA for, and praised WWE for their good logic. If they start being slapdash with their thinking we're in trouble.

- Normally I might complain that Jericho v Smith was short, but I really do think Smith is limited in there. Miz v Kidd might be fun, though.

- My understanding is that next week's Raw is commercial free. Why the hell are they not all over this and promoting it before and after every ad break? Didn't it do like a 4.5 rating last time?

- Flavor Flav is talking and I have literally no idea what he is talking about. Utter nonsense.

- Carlito and Primo with Ted DiBiase jnr? I can live with that. If they are going down the Fortunate Sons route with a stable that includes a tag team I quite like that idea.

- I really liked the little Eve video, it was a good way of helping her get over, but I didn't like the Maryse segment in the ring with a martial arts instructor at all. Why? Because she threw him three or four times, and he just got back up and didn't sell! She'll do that in the ring her opponent will sell it like it hurts. If he is ok, then whats the point?

- I'm cool with the Cena/Batista/Sheamus/Henry slot. I'm guessing we get a tag match between the teams, and then Sheamus to beat Henry to put him over even more.

- Edge talking to Vickie was the best acting I've seen from Vickie, she was very good, and I do like Edge's logic. He is doing something most heels don't do and that is explain his actions as a babyface. Last week he talked about why he turned on the fans, and this week explained to Vickie that he said bad things about her to draw her some sympathy. Flimsy, but its an explanation, and for that I applaud them.

- Oh no, I've just realised something. They are not saying that if MIz loses to Kidd he has to wrestle a member of the Hart DYNASTY. They are saying a member of the Hart FAMILY. Miz v Bret?

- I swear I wrote that before Miz said it.

- Didn't care for the short match, but I understand why they did it.

- As a nice little aside, remember when Miz was "The Calgary Kid" for one night? I wonder if they'll bring that up?

- There will be plenty of people who were down on the 'comedy' segment, but Regal could sit and read the telephone directory and he'd crease me up. His rapping was hilarious I thought.

- I'm genuinely sad that Batista may be departing soon. I think his heel persona is terrific right now. I loved the sullen look on his face sitting on a chair before attacking Henry with it.

- Slightly all over the place closing segment. Just felt disjointed, and I'm not keen on Orton getting the best of Edge again. Makes Edge look weak that with a partner and a GM on his side, Orton still stands tall.

- I'm happy that Vickie isn't going to be permanent GM. She was entertaining for one night, but I feel her act would grate if on Raw every week.

Raw Thoughts - pretty quick this week!

· I guess it’s one of pitfalls of reading the wrestling news sites that I basically knew that the opening segment would feature a beatdown on Batista.
· That said, it was well done, and the visual of Batista’s arm snapping back looked effective.
· Good work as usual from Michael Cole (note saracasm) calling the chair shot to the spine before quickly switching to saying “arm”. Idiot.
· Aside, that is, from the usual question marks – why did no referees or officials rush the ring to stop the beating. These segment always used to look more effective when the heels were evading a bunch of refs and agents.
· And is Batista so friendless that no-one – NO-ONE – would come and help him? Didn’t Cena come and help the guy a couple of weeks ago. Just the smallest thing, him arriving late and hearing what happened, would make the world of difference. He’d be a more sympathetic babyface, establish him as Batista’s friend and ally and make WWE look less stupid for not acknowledging anything.
· “The last thing you need is a Jamaican as United States champion” Don’t worry Willy, he’s Ghanaian.
· Kofi will never get over winning three minute matches. This is why no-name jobbers used to be used. It gave the talent a chance to shine and hurt no-one. This simply harms Regal that little bit more, and gives Kofi nothing.
· Right now, the Divas are just there. They (and this is not their fault, for the most part) offer nothing to the TV show. There is absolutely no originality to a storyline, simply “Mickie wants the title, Maryse doesn’t like her.” That isn’t an angle, it’s nothing.
· I really like the Miz/Maryse chemistry.
· Santino walking down the aisle and giving the “oh shucks” arm wave to a fan is funnier than anything SantinA has done for weeks. The guy is walking comedy.
· Oh, but he’s tagging with Festus and Goldust. This really isn’t the wrestling show is it?
· Thinking back, Vickie’s backing of Orton is plain odd. They haven’t completely got on, and since Vince, or Shane, or Steph, is her boss, wouldn’t she want to be fair so as not to piss them off?
· Miz has “Miz 6 Cena 0” on his sleeves, Nice touch. Why did Cena take so long to emerge? Just felt really odd. I felt sure we’d cut backstage to see that Cena had been taken out.
· That went from severely boring to very intriguing. I was lamenting Big Show STILL not letting it drop that Cena is better than him, when his attack was cut short by Miz smashing him with a chair. It lacked clarity and didn’t make too much sense, but I’ll always give them a week to explain it. I like the idea that it was a segment that was interesting to watch and offers something to look forward to.
· I don’t care who she is, but all this Pig talk, she-beast and “looks like Edge’s mother” (she’s five years older) is downright insulting. It’s too far, character or no character.
· That was a muddled segment, with Edge officially admitting he used Vickie and ditching her. His actions were horrible, demeaning and spiteful. But he got cheered, since she is so hated.
· That was a killer John Cena promo. Put his Show feud in perspective and his words for The Miz were nicely pitched. He admitted a small amount of respect but then basically that he hates him. It felt a big deal. Great stuff from Cena. That kind of promo makes it even more annoying when he does his “throw up in the mouth, poopies and peepees” promos.
· Disappointing tag match with Legacy and Colons. Wouldn’t make me want to pay to see a title match, for example.
· Fair enough ending to the show. Had to bring Trips back at this point. Not overjoyed at prospect of seeing Triple H and Orton one on one AGAIN, mind you. Loved hearing the crowd chant “Pedigree” – never heard that before.
· So did Batista miss the count then?
· Good reasons to keep watching. Smackdown has the Punk/Edge/Jeff fallout as well as Jericho/Mysterio awesomeness. Next week’s Raw is a three-hour special (although they often suck) with resolutions of Title and GM situations

Raw Thoughts - June 1

· Always like a cold opening of Raw. Logical Orton promo, makes sense to have Cage match as a build up, and I particularly liked the interaction between Cody and Randy, where Randy truly did seem like a mentor and Cody eager to impress his boss.
· Good intensity from Ric’s promo, but overdid the ‘Punk’ thing. Especially when they have a wrestler on the roster (admittedly on another brand) that goes by that epithet.
· Why would Rhodes try to escape within a few seconds? Isn’t the idea that he is a sacrifice to hurt Batista a bit?
· Hardly a technical classic, but I thought that Big Dave looked really good in that short match. That’s the best way to promote the guy as a big threat to a champion.
· Matt and Regal being helped out by management after toadying around them is quite a nice idea, as is being given a title shot, as is using it for antagonising each other. But surely not within two weeks. It’s a nice theory, but it’s just too rushed.
· See, that’s why the US Title is not taken seriously. It’s more than 30 minutes into the show and they’ve only just reminded us that MVP v Kofi for that title is on the show. I, for one, had forgotten, and I’m actually looking forward to it. Start the show, say “Randy Orton from Legacy is in the ring, we’ll see what he has to say, on a night where the US title is on the line and John Cena doesn’t know who his partner is....” then you have a couple of hooks right from the start.
· I think any title match should be positioned as a main event. You have more variety on the show, make each belt feel more important and therefore a bigger draw. Also, and this is very important, it gives plenty more individuals the chance to shine.
· Hey, Spongebob is pretty over.
· King calls it unorthodox, I call it one of the oddest matches ever. I don’t know who I am supposed to cheer for, or sympthise with, or what. Cena hates Show, Miz hates Cena, Show hates Miz, Chavo tries to get all to like him, everybody hates Chavo, Joanie Loves Chachie, Everybody loves Raymond, Everybody hates Chris, Everybody wants to rule the world, Nobody does it better, everybody needs somebody to love.
· Sweetheart to miss
· Sugar to kiss
· Almost a good backstage MVP/Kofi segment, but just felt too forced.
· Nice match for the US Title. Wasn’t really expecting Kofi to win, which made it nice. That match is definitely the highlight of the show thus far.
· “That’s what Cody said” from DiBiase to Orton, as Randy talks confidently of standing tall. Great line, and there is a definite sense of Ted being protected, not just from a physical perspective, but he is the one who talks more sense, and seems to have backbone, whereas Cody does pander to Randy a bit.
· A video of a hog pen, and the commentators explaining that matches of this ilk have taken place in the past. No footage of Triple H being made to look like an idiot, though. Funny that.
· I’ll admit that Santino throwing the contents of that bucket in a circle and hitting the caerma was funny, but that whole segment generally was, well, excrement. Someone, somewhere, thought that was a good idea. Think about that.
· If Flair wanted a man-to-man fight, then couldn’t he have stood eye-to-eye rather than using a sneak attack?
· Remember how many people said how badly Rey Mysterio was booked as a champion, and that he may have been the weakest looking champ ever? Well, might Orton be the most flip-flopping champ ever in terms of booking? There have been times where he looks imperious, kicking people in the head, standing tall and being mean, but every now and again he gets beaten down by someone who didn’t ought to best him. Vince, Shane, an injured Triple H, and now a retired Ric Flair. The one man who has yet to look strong against Orton, really, is Batista. The one I’ll give the segment is that it had heat. And the punt followed by the face-off across the cage was pretty cool.
· How long did Batista take to emerge to help his ‘friend’, by the way
· And how stupid were the babyfaces tonight? Why didn’t Batista try to climb the cage straight away? Didn’t Santino realise he was getting set up? Cole and Lawler saw Vickie plotting with Hardy and Regal. Why didn’t Marella? Why didn’t Cena just try a different submission hold? Maybe an anklelock?
· Meh sort of Raw. Some good bits, but not a great episode to help sell me a PPV. Actually, I think the one bit which made me think "I'm looking forward to Sunday" was the advert for Edge v Jeff Hardy. Says a lot, really.

Raw Thoughts - May 18

· Judgment day was good, Cole, but it was “at times miraculous”? What?
· So Mickie pins the champ one-on-one, then in a tag match, but isn’t number one contender? Seems a bit harsh.
· Hopefully they’ll take the battle royal outcome to conclusion at Extreme Rules. Fancy seeing Kelly Kelly in a hardcore match?
· Nice to see Santino given a plausible match but still not make Chavo look too stupid. Hopefully they can build this for him
· I like that – Josh inferring to Matt Hardy that Matt did Vickie a favour and helped Edge. Wahey! Logic!
· Excellent – Goldust and Hornswoggle as a duo – hopefully mostly on ECW.
· That’s taken Miz back a couple of weeks. He was doing great as a cutting edge antagonist, but a lame rap does not help his cause in the slightest.
· Big Show and Cena in a submission match is another nice logical progression from Cena struggling to procure the STF at Judgment Day.
· Matt needs a change of music. His “Ohh Ye-eah” start still draws a cheer.
· If I’m going to pick Cole up on every little thing, only fair I do it to JR. Matt’s injury is a metacarpal, not a metatarsal, as Ross said. The first is the hand, the latter the foot.
· Two things I’ll give credit for in that Vickie/Santina segment. The first was that Santino had two little patches picked up from shaving. That’s beyond subtle – good work. The other is that Regal came out unannounced and we don’t know why. I like when unexpected and unknown things happen. They should happen regularly and make you tune in week to week to find out the reason.
· Aren’t WWE having some problems with a venue because of a Basketball fixture clash? Presumably Vince is unhappy, hence the multiple negative references to Denver Nuggets on the show.
· That was a very good main event for lots of reasons
· Firstly, I liked the chaos of it. I hate how much the current Raw product looks like it’s so clinical, but this was an old-fashioned (well, Attitude Era) main event where stuff was happening all over the place. Cena and Show up the ramp, confusion about the legal man, then a Flair run in. I like how the camera didn’t pick it straight up, then Cody fell into the frame. I thought Cena had returned. The commentators also didn’t pick up on it straight away. While that’s silly because they can see the ramp, it was effective.
· The match itself was plenty good enough. Standard heel domination (but then they should, they have one more man) and babyface in peril stuff, done well to keep an otherwise quiet crowd lively.
· Next, the Flair involvement, throughout the show, worked nicely to create a minor conflict between him and Batista and then resolve it. Also, his involvement in the finish means there is a nice plug for his involvement next week.
· I also like the way that essentially Cena abandoned Batista. Dave can argue Cena let him down and Flair had to bail him out. Cena can respond that he helped him out earlier on when Batista and Flair were getting their ass kicked. Both men would be right. Doing this would be perfect because there could be a slow build for when they wrestle again – the first time was simply too rushed.
· Overall, below average show until the end. Really good main event and top ending.

Raw Thoughts, March 30th - Final Raw before Wrestlemania delivers, big style

· So that’s 18 Divas in the opening contest. Was there anyone from WWE (other than those injured) who was not represented? I guess that means 7 guest spots open.
· Vaguely pointless match. But Santino’s appearance got a huge pop in the arena and in my house for the Jack Tunney reference. Daft stuff, but mildly amusing.
· Jericho and Lawler serves as a passable piece of TV to continue the build to Jericho’s Mania match, but showed exactly why the thought of these two facing each other at the big one itself was rightly ditched at an early stage.
· Another nice little touch by Michaels. Didn’t ham it up, but just appearing and saying “expecting someone else”. I’ve loved this build-up, and can’t wait for the match.
· They showed Lawler coming back to ringside, and I couldn’t help but think that Jericho should have attacked him from behind. That would have been just perfect. Jericho backs out of a fight after the match, and then cracks Lawler from behind like a coward. Makes sense to me.
· I don’t like showing a match on Raw that will feature on the Wrestlemania card, especially since it basically went nowhere, had a break in it, and featured some action at the start of the match you would expect to see near the end.
· I would suggest the idea will be that the Rey winning means a few people will tale this to mean that he’ll win at Mania and thus will buy the show for the joy of seeing Myserio win a title.
· Dull match with Cena and Show, but interesting to see Show win clean and perfect character booking for Edge to appear and feast on Cena’s carcass post-match. I really don’t know who’ll take this match, you know.
· Another tremendous HBK/Undertaker segment. Although there were a few extra points I’d like to make:
o Kudos to Shawn for mentioning 24 years and not 25.
o Where did he get that black eye and cut on the nose from?
o Nice nod to history in that the attacked always comes from the casket, and this time it looked that way twice and didn’t happen.
o Shame the Superkick missed.
· Fun little Battle Royal. Common sense to have Kane win it as he has traditionally been good in that kind of match. I was disappointed they didn’t reference Punk’s elimination of Kofi, seeing as they won the Tag Titles together not long ago and now Punk is throwing him out of the ring.
· That final segment - the final segment of Raw before the biggest show of the year, remember -was absolutely tremendous.
· I thought Orton’s structure explanation of all his actions was cold, calculating and well put to get the fans to strongly book him. Then, the Limo arrival, which I have to admit had me fooled. I fancied a Triple H sneak through the crowd, a demolition of Rhodes and DiBiase before an RKO and a closing scene of Orton standing tall over Hunter with the title belt. Instead, we got Shane and Vince, with a crowd going batshit insane.
· Perfect pacing, beautiful setup, and I couldn’t be more ready for Wrestlemania.
· Taxi! London Heathrow airport, please. I’ve a plane to catch.

Raw Thoughts - March 23rd

· Should I point out the irony in Chris Jericho talking about this being real and not a movie as he walked round a corner to the second, pre-prepared camera waiting to track his every move? Great promo, though. I love Jericho’s tone when he does those promos, so calculated. It’s more menacing in a voice almost a whisper than it would be as a shout.
· The Jericho build to the legends match at Mania doesn’t quite resonate as it should. I think it’s because it’s a three-on-one contest and the heel is the one with odds stacked against him. Also, the brutal beating of Flair doesn’t quite feel like the setup to a big revenge hit because Flair isn’t wrestling.
· A vicious and bloody start to Raw. A ‘crimson mask’ from the Nature Boy, and an extreme rules match with plenty of chair shots and violence. Not helping the PG rating, there, Vince.
· Did I hear Ric Flair shout during the Money in the Bank tag match?
· And even more roughhousing, as Finlay (heel for a night but still with the diddly-dee music) smashes up some of his Mania opponents with a ladder. Quite a fun tag match, with an ending which the crowd really popped for.
· They’ve got there too early with Edge, Show and Vickie. There is nowhere to go with it now, and they’ve still got three more shows to fill. I felt this week’s was superfluous really, with little happening other than Show getting to leave Raw with the upper hand after Edge did last week.
· Rey and Regal was way too short. I see what it was leading to with JBL on commentary helping it out, but the match, between two guys who can do much better, was a non-event.
· Plenty will say it was ridiculous, but I thought the Santino/Mickie thing was hilarious. “I’m like a snake” They better find a way of getting him some mic time at Wrestlemania.
· I really liked the Shawn vignette. I love stuff like that, makes it have a really special feel. I like the fact that Michaels is getting the psychological upper hand over the usually-in-charge Undertaker. This is the match I’m looking forward to at Mania.
· Many will disagree with me, and suggest that it was bad taste, but I thought the final segment was tremendous. The characterisation was perfect. Orton is once again a vicious, despicable heel and Triple H actually showed some vulnerability. I loved the tension of Orton kissing Steph, and being just far enough away from Triple H that Hunter could just about touch him, but do nothing about it. There is enough tension now for people to pay money to see Triple H destroy Randy Orton.

Raw Thoughts - 16th March

aw T· It was great watching that Edge/Show/Vickie/Cena segment again to kick off Raw. Show’s face and the slap on the ass are just hilarious. I think I like that idea more now than I did last week.
· Michaels and Undertaker as a team to start off Raw, Cena v Edge with Vickie as ref, presumably to close. Wow, that’s a heck of a line up.
· Phenomenal work from Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.
· I loved the use of conventions and then the subversion of them, taking UT’s reach back in preparation for a Goozle as a precursor for a tag, and then his look back to the ring to set up for a Superkick.
· It’s a very nice build from these two. It’s really feeling like something special. The subtle looks between the two were quality, and I loved the attempted stomp by Taker after Michaels got the pin. Fantastic opening segment.
· Nice Edge and Vickie backstage seg, and a good old-fashioned set up for a stacking of the odds against the babyface in the main event of the show.
· At least they explained the Triple H and Orton situation to sufficient lengths that we aren’t all wondering why he isn’t locked up. It’s not the most watertight of explanations, but it’ll do. I can see a “No DQ” clause, or something similar, being added for the Mania match. I just hope that, after all this aggression by each man towards the other, they don’t end up doing a face off then locking up at the start of the match, as opposed to launching into one another and scrapping straight away.
· Nice stuff with Santino and Rosa, did you see it? Beth handed Santino the slammy, and he acted deferential, but then surreptitiously handed it to Rosa. That’s obviously the Glamourella hierarchy.
· Ah, a cage. That’ll likely be the extra stip for Mania, then. Not that I want to see that.
· Ridiculously call, though, by Cole. “Orton and DiBiase have no way in.” Can’t they climb over?
· Okay, they have to stop doing stuff to contradict me after I’ve typed it! Now they are trying to climb, but Trips is stopping them. I quite like that.
· I enjoyed that whole segment, once it got going. Nice setup to show Trips as smarter, not tougher, than Legacy. That works nicely. I’d assume DiBiase will be picked off in due course, leaving just the participants in the title match.
· I’m not crazy about the idea of JBL v Rey just for the hell of it. Rey is best to watch when putting on great, high-flying encounters with guys like Edge who can move and keep up. He has spent the last six months with Kane, Mike Knox, and now he may have to wrestle JBL. Poor Rey.
· Jericho – the Narcissist????? Is the legend he faces going to be Luger? J
· I think I’d have had Flair come out in the robe and then take off to reveal a suit. Just to play the moment.
· So it’s going to be, what? Steamboat, Piper and Snuka in a Handicap match? I’m not sure I really care for that. I think the WWE have been a bit unlucky, because they’ve set up for Jericho and Rourke, then Jericho and Hogan, and then Jericho and Flair. All have fallen through, and they are going to gamble on a payoff to hot feud with a not-so-hot match.
· Throwaway tag match building for the Money in the Bank match, but nice work on commentary by the whole team, talking up the hopes of the individuals involved. I would doubt that Kane, Henry or Finlay would win, but Christian, Punk, MVP, Kofi and Shelton are all possible. I may have to upgrade the McNichol Eliminator to be able to cope with the decision come Wrestlemania.
· Another nice piece of extra storytelling, having Stephanie be the explanation for why Triple H was able to call for the cage to be lowered........but if she was there and fit, why isn’t she GM
· A bit of a soft ending, really. A non-match with a little action after the bell, but token gestures really. To be fair, both this and the other title match are ready to be taken to Pay Per View, really. Because of the nature of PPVs coming thick and fast these days, build-ups are generally quicker, and actually they are probably ready to go right now. The next couple of weeks will be quite a challenge to create interesting TV, with little left to achieve.

Raw Thoughts: March 10

· We will be going live Randy Orton’s home, apparently. I think I could stake fairly decent money on the fact that Triple H may just show up, and it won’t be with a neighbourly cup of sugar.
· Just top class verbiage from Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. Genuinely made me want to see the match even more, and I already have my ticket! I actually quite liked the fact that they occasionally stumbled over a word or two because it heightened the tension and emphasised the emotion.
· I’m also really glad the writers didn’t choose to undermine the importance of the Mania match by having Michaels superkick Taker or the Deadman chokeslamming HBK, because that would have been cheap.
· Oh, and Michael Cole saying “Vintage Shawn Michaels” straight after the promo was just so plastic and felt tacked on. I know I sound like a broken record, but Raw is supposed to be the flagship show and has the third best announce team.
· A pretty good match between JBL and Punk for what it was, and the fact that he’ll be presumably defending this at Mania makes sense, and Punk will be MITB anyway. It’s just a shame this was not a surprise because of the leaked script.
· A word on that actually. Despite being part of the hated Internet Wrestling media, I really don’t like things like the leaked script. I like to speculate and to guess on what will happen, and yeah a little inside information here and there is nice and helps me, but mostly I don’t like to know the score. I was at Bound for Glory and watched it sat two seats from Dixie Carter, and surrounded by company writers, wrestlers and agents. I watched the participants in matches go through spots and organise their matches, and it was a very cool experience. However, when we sat down to watch the matches, the three of us that were there as journalists had a competition to guess who would win. Admitted we did quite well, even guessing the manner of certain victories, but that didn’t detract from our enjoyment, and the fact that we were kept guessing made it more fun.
· Things like the leaked script make Vince McMahon and the like more paranoid and I don’t blame them, because although it’s cool to know what Chris Irvine, rather than Chris Jericho, is like, or learn bits about how the show is put together, I don’t think people ought to see such explicit detail. Admittedly, that makes me sound a hypocrite because I have seen a script such as this before, but to the majority these things should be kept secret to heighten the magic, in my eyes.
· Back to Raw, and to Randy Orton speaking from his house. Interesting that they introduced his wife. Didn’t he confess to sleeping with Kelly Kelly about six weeks ago? Bet she’s happy with that one.
· Divas lumberjacks.........the high angle shot does neither Jillian nor Rosa Mendes any favours.
· That’s frustrating. Far too short and a weak ending. For what is was, that was pretty good divas action, but how can the alleged best two divas in the company be taken seriously if their match lasts about four minutes, if that?
· To her credit, I think Maryse is as improved as anybody in the last 6-12 months.
· Edge, Show, Cena, Vickie.........what........the hell........was that?
· Ought to comment really, didn’t I? Well, it was very contrived and ought really to have been a show-ender, but while Triple H and Orton are about they are going to be the focus. I don’t know why Cena did the “I love Vickie” thing, because it really just served to confuse people, and then it was abandoned anyway. I think Cena could have just shown the “GTV” footage and had done with it. Still, they have to work it in somehow, and I’m all for having more Edge and Vickie soap opera stuff, because it’s a riot.
· Vickie better throw Alicia Fox in Edge’s face, because he has done exactly the same thing. I imagine it’s supposed to be a mirror of that incident. I would doubt this is the end of the Vickie/Edge partnership. In fact I’d suggest Edge will win the Triple Threat with Vickie’s help, and this will be revealed to have all been a plot.
· The Jericho thing worked fair enough, although I hope against all hope that Flair doesn’t come out of retirement. It was the best retirement angle of all time, and to sully that would be criminal.
· Christian working a six-man filler match. My God, what terrible use of him. Even if you are going to have him brought back in that miserable way on ECW, surely for his return to Raw you could have a 10 second vignette from backstage. Have Edge on the phone, or talking to a backstage lackey, ranting about first Cena interfering, Show being around and now his wife letting him down, then saying you should be able to trust family. Edge then looks shocked, Christian walks by, smiles, and walks away. It would just make him feel like a slightly bigger deal, and would be an impactful announcement to the Raw audience that he is back. Simples.
· The match utterly worthless, lasting only a few seconds and further watering down the Rey Mysterio act. I’ve often said that I’m not his hugest fan, but he’s a talented and over dude who was the star of the best match at No Way Out about three weeks ago. Why isn’t he front and centre of Raw right now? I’m begging for his to go back to Smackdown and have Michael hayes lay out thered (well, blue) carpet for him
· I didn’t care for that final segment. I’m ok with the overall concept, but I thought the camera work was a little too clean. The cameras were really well positioned – too much so. You need that edgy feel as though everything is live and happening for real so you can lose the reality bubble for a second. That was impossible because it felt like a movie. Especially the camera waiting outside the window.
· Orton shouldn’t have been so agile after being thrown through the window. Within 30 seconds of being thrown through several panes of glass he got up, no sign of a cut on him, and tried to a attack a handcuffed Triple H. Come Wrestlemania, ninety seconds into the match he’ll stay down for longer after a right hand.
· Sometimes less is more. I know they were going for the full effect, but they could have left more to the imagination. The reason people will instantly compare this to Austin v Pillman is testament to how that angle worked. It felt real. Both men’s characters were nutcases at the time and the camera feed broke. You wondered what the hell had happened. Would it have been the worst thing in the world for Hunter to have stormed into the living room to interrupt the interview, stand in front of the camera and smash it? Raw would then cut to Cody and Ted looking petrified for their cohort and Cole and Lawler could squeal “what the hell happened?” as Raw goes off the air.
· You then have a hook for more footage from a second camera being played on Smackdown, and a better cliffhanger feel to it.
· I don’t like the fact that Triple H has two (legitimate) reasons to be in jail and that Cena was a prick to Edge and Show. Like Bret Hart I could be accused of being stuck in the past, but I think a babyface should be in essence virtuous and heroic. Not psychotic and a piss-taker.
· An ‘eh’ Raw. Plenty of good stuff (Flair’s teasing return, the intrigue of where JBL will take the IC title, the announcement of the divas match, even if the seg was probably too short, and of course HBK/Taker) but the big title segments felt forced or out of place. Much of Edge/Cena/Show was ok, but it didn’t flow and didn’t suit characters. Triple H has gone crazy because Orton put his hands on The Game’s wife, so wouldn’t Edge want to immediately go after Big Show and knock his block off.

Unforgiven Live Notes

00.57am
Hang on, give me a minute. I’m just booking my holiday. Worksop, Leamington Spa.....it’s all glamour, you know.

01.00am
Ok, here we go. Unforgiven, the PPV with the fake name that brings out the pedant in me. Unforgiven is not a word, dammit. I blame Clint Eastwood. Or whoever was in Unforgiven. I haven’t time to fact check, I’m working.

01.02am
Interesting video focussed a lot of attention on Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Maybe they are going with that as the main event. Which is cool and all, but the impact will be lessened by the fact that last month’s main event wasn’t a title match either.

01.03am
Wow, a genuine PPV first as Todd Grisham is the first voice we hear for Unforgiven. I’m pleased for Grisham and Striker that they have been pretty good in their opening weeks on ECW, and makes ECW feel like the breeding ground for announcers as well as wrestlers.

01.04am
We start with Matt Hardy and The Miz for the first section of the ECW scramble, which as you have probably gathered opens the show. They talk about The Miz being known as a chick magnet, which is where the CM of CM Punk comes from. The CM, contrary to popular belief, does not stand for “Craves Momentum”.

01.08am
We could do with a clock, here, you know folks. The commentators are talking about things happening early, but we don’t know timings.

01.10am
Shortly after Striker name checks Pat Patterson as inventing the scramble concept (presumably five men coming at regular intervals is attractive to him) Miz hits the Reality Check but Matt rolls to the outside. The commentators say how clever that was of Matt to roll away to avoid being pinned. Hang on, if he has enough energy couldn’t he just kick out?

01.11am
On the Nelson it’s Chavo, and within seconds he has rolled Miz to the outside and frog-splashed Matt to gain the first pinfall. I like that, it was a logical pin without making someone looking really weak and emphasised Chavo’s sneaky, Guerrero-patented lying, cheating and stealing.

01.14am
This match is ticking along nicely. Chavo hid a cracking rolling kick which Striker referred to as a Lyger Kick, and Miz hit a cool double cross-body. Matt nails Miz with a Side Effect and picks up a fall. Matt is interim champion.

01.16am
Big Mark (I can’t called him Mizark, can I, because Mike Mizanin is in this match) Henry is next, and the other three gang up but get dominated to begin with, Andre/Big Show style.

01.17am
Henry picks up Chavo and drops him, all of his weight crushing Chavo beneath him. Henry is interim champion. Noticeable that for the three falls so far a different man has been pinned each time.

01.19am
I’m sure it wasn’t intended, but Striker talked about Henry’s X-Factor. Which was a move and faction devised by X-Pac, Sean Waltman. Mizark, as I mentioned earlier, was a nickname for Henry coined by the Nation Parody by DX, and it was Waltman who dressed as Mizark Henry.

01.21am
Finlay, to a big ovation, is next, and is all over Henry. We now have a clock, people.

01.22am
Right, the action is quick but I have lots of points to make. Firstly Finlay clocked Henry twice with the shillelagh, while the ref’s back was turned. Can you get DQ-ed? Surely not.

Finlay and Matt get Henry out of the ring, and Finlay strikes the North Carolinian with the Celtic Cross. Everyone has been champ thus far. Finlay is temporary champ.

01.24am
Not for long, Hardy pins Miz (I think) and is now desperately preventing other pinfalls. Miz has a huge gash on his head from somewhere. This is mayhem.

01.26am
You know what, I loved that. Aside from the huge logic hole of disqualification, that was very entertaining and performed sensible with logic at frequent points. Henry was not pinned at all.

It should be said that the commentators were tremendous. Absolutely superb. They pieced the thing together, and although they had the odd slip which I picked up on, for the most part they kept it moving, and picked up their excitement towards the end. It will be interesting not just to see the contrast of the matches but also the commentary.

The crowd were well into that too, by the way.

01.30am
Their usual rip-off, dah, I mean AT&T text poll, asks whether Vickie Guererro was right to not allow Big Show into the scramble match for Smackdown. Does that mean that he will show up?

01.32am
Cody and Ted’s big adventure continues against the 1980s heel but new millennium babyfaces Cryme Tyme. I miss Repo Man, he would have got on so well with Shad and JTG.

Cole calls Rhodes and DiBiase brash and arrogant. Yeah, because Cryme Tyme as so mellow and modest aren’t they?

Sorry, I’ll leave off the commentators a bit.

01.34am
Early offence by Cryme Tyme, including big Shad sending both opponents outside with a double clothesline, then JTG being propelled in the air by his partner over the top to take out both Ted and Cody. Cody may have genuinely hurt his arm. His bump was odd.

01.44am
Another one goes above expectations. I thought this was a really fun tag match, which moved along really steadily which a neat little finish to it. Hang on a minute.......

01.46am
OK, that was odd. Ted and Cody were getting beaten up post-match but some guy came and saved them. The guy looked like a white Haku, or was Carlito on the Big Daddy V diet. Judging by the fact that he is in developmental and would fit the second generation theme, I would think that it was Afa Jr. I’d think they’d give him a name and just say he’s Afa’s boy, though.

Back to the match, I did really enjoy it. I thought both teams came off looking just that – TEAMS. Good teamwork, good character progression (especially the heels) and a finish which made Cody and Ted bigger heels but didn’t hurt Cryme Tyme.

Just one big fault – what the hell was Cody’s moonsault all about. He didn’t need to do it, logically, in the bout, and sold it like an idiot. Actually elicited a laugh from the audience.

01.50am
Footage of Shawn being taped up before a cool recap of Jericho v Shawn. If you need this recap then where have you been and why are you buying this PPV. Perhaps you are a blogger on Wrestlign who doesn’t do their job properly. (I’ll let you work out who that is)

01.51am
The unsanctioned match is next, and they are explaining it as that both guys have signed agreements stopping each man suing each other or WWE for any injuries and preventing any liability.

Still doesn’t make it unsanctioned, but we’ll let it slide.

I’m guessing this will be followed by the SD scramble, then a short divas interlude before Raw’s title match.

If you’ll excuse me, I may simply watch this one uninterrupted and report back at the end. I’m not a play-by-play guy.

02.27am
I’m frustrated beyond belief. Mostly this was very, very good, bordering on terrific. Mainly, though, I can’t stop thinking about the holes that riddled this performance that for me have blighted it.

Firstly, I want to say that I don’t blame either competitor. Shawn Michaels, an injured man don’t forget, was tremendous. Jericho not far behind. The intensity was off the charts and I actually liked the emotion of Shawn’s which I would normally find to be over the top.

Second, Michaels leaving as the man standing and Jericho down was the right thing to do. HBK needed retribution of some sort otherwise Jericho would be dominating the thing too much.

Lastly, I like the fact that this leaves the room open for this to logically carry on.

My problems.......are many.

Firstly, Lance Cade interfering just watered things down. I’d have liked to seen him either told that if he interfered he’d be suspended or for someone to put him out of commission. More on that in a minute.

Next, the match was supposed to be the culmination of both men’s hate for each other, and something beyond wrestling. The emotion was there for that, but when HBK was in that much peril, holding his eye, with a torn tricep, if we follow things through, wouldn’t Triple H have given Shawn a hand? At two on one, couldn’t Triple H have evened the score. Beyond wrestling, remember. A true friend wouldn’t let their buddy risk his career, his quality of life, like that.

Triple H could have at least taken out Cade, pre-match or during it.

I have many more things I could go into, but the next match is nearly starting and I’m still typing. I will, though, have a huge go at the decision of how to end the match. Lillian, even putting on a little more emotion herself, in the preamble said “this match can only end in pinfall or submission.” And the ref stopped it.

The ref, Marty Elias, actually made an unintentional funny during the match when he asked Cade and Jericho “What are you doing?” Err, trying to hurt the guy, Marty, you idiot.

No-one wanted it to end like, and it just made them all look stupid. Why couldn’t Michaels have suddenly become overcome by the emotion and walked to the back. That would have been far better than the ref going against the ENTIRE POINT of the unsanctioned stipulation. No skin off the ref’s nose if one man gets hurt.

So frustrating. Mostly good, but so flawed at the same time.


02.35am
Let’s catch up. Shelton and Jeff Hardy have started the Smackdown title match. No falls yet. During the break between matches we saw a very, very good backstage bit with Randy Orton meeting Cody, Ted and man we now have confirmed as son of Afa, but it seemed they called him Monya, or something similar. They explained his background.

They faced Orton and said that he now had to be impressed, but he laid into them for being too self congratulatory. I like the feel to this and it’s good to keep Orton involved in this manner.

02.37am
Ok, competitor three is joining in, and it’s Kendrick, along with big Zeke. No action to call as yet.

02.40am
Jeff picks up a pinfall over Kendrick with his new Powerbomb into a faceplant move. I recall it may have Tori’s finisher some years ago.

02.41am
Jeff tried to pin Shelton, and JR commended Hardy’s attitude. Which is doubly idiotic, because Jeff doesn’t get two ahead by getting an extra pin. It’s not an ironman match.

02.42am
Quickly after the above foolishness, Shelton hits paydirt (ridiculous name) but Kendrick breaks up the count. This actually makes sense, because Kendrick can then hit Sliced Bread (I’m not calling it The Kendrick. That’s like Shelton’s finisher being called The Benjamin, or Triple H’s being “The Helmsley”

Anyway, Kendrick is now the interim champion, a term which makes more sense than current champion, but one they seem to have abandoned.

02.45am
MVP entered a couple of minutes ago, and much like the first Scramble things are escalating. More moves being hit, with Kendrick looking particularly good. Impressive for him since this is his first time at this level. If someone had told you six months ago that Brian Kendrick (the artist formerly known as Spanky) would be starring at a PPV in a WWE Title match you’d have laughed and suggested that maybe Paul London would be UFC Heavyweight champion, then.

02.48am
Big reaction for Triple H. On one hand it could be easy to criticise Triple H for coming into this last (I sort of did in my preview) but at least it gave the other guys a chance to shine.

02.49am
With just over four minutes left Triple H pedigrees, and pins, Brian Kendrick. The Game is back in the saddle.

02.51am
With about three minutes to go, Hardy pins MVP after a Twist of Fate, and is Champeen again. Hardy takes too much of a Sliced Brian (I’ve compromised) he was supposed to avoid then gets stitched up by Triple H.

Nice little exchange here, because Triple H beat Kendrick again with a Pedigree, but while he was recovering from his exertions, Jeff hit a Swanton and went back in control.

02.53am
Hardy took Triple H to the outside and hit a plancha, leaving the other three to do an amazing tower of doom spot, initiated by Shelton.

Back in, Hardy cleaned house, hitting another Swanton, but left Triple H to pedigree MVP to get the pin with one second left. Hardy actually did a really clever thing which went unappreciated, which was that he cover Shelton, but the announcers never called it. The theory, as I saw it, was that as soon as Triple H finished his cover Hardy could get his. They didn’t call it though.

02.54am
Great stuff. This was really slow for ten minutes, but perhaps that helps because you get the slow build and the anticipation rises.

Post match Triple H and Jeff Hardy acknowledged how close they were to losing and winning respectively, and shook hands mid ring. Nice touch, except that if the two of them face-off next PPV, we’ll probably get the old ‘respect’ thing for a month and have a cold build up to a match which would be better if they had a spark. Maybe they will, we’ll see.

03.01am
More backstage stuff, and we get a great promo by Michaels which basically confirms that Jericho and he will keep going for a bit yet.

Next, Punk is interviewed by Eve (and was booed a little when he appeared) and the obligatory interruption comes from Orton. Nice to and fro before it’s Ted and ‘Fro.....and Cody, who interject. Yeah, that was a little weak, I’m sorry.

The Tag Champs plus their new buddy beat down Punk, and Kofi comes to help but to no avail. So Kofi can help Punk who he has never acknowledged on TV, but Triple H doesn’t assist Shawn. Ok then.

Orton tees off on Punk’s head with a great kick which the camera caught splendidly, and the heels leave, with Orton telling the other guys that he found those actions truly impressive.

03.05am
Back in the ring, we are several minutes into a very important segment. This audience have to get some refreshments at some point.

Maryse and Michelle are having a snoozefest of sloppy ‘wrestling’, with even a ‘boring’ chant being beyond the audience.

Michelle is so devoid of emotion, talent and charisma there is no reason to support her. Maryse, to her part, is a vaguely decent heel. Can’t wrestle though. Maryse actually wouldn’t be out of place in the Beautiful People in TNA.

03.08am
Michelle wins. Four people cheer.

03.11am
Adamle announces that after Punk was attacked he mightn’t be able to compete. He says he might have to find a suitable replacement.

Soon, Show comes out to offer Adamle his services. By the way, Adamle didn’t say if the title is still on the line if Punk doesn’t compete. It seems that it surely would be, but nothing was confirmed.

Show doesn’t talk long, but asks the fans if he should be in the scramble match. They sheer halfheartedly, and he reacts as though they went bananas. Poo Show. I love the guy, but he’s just doomed to apathy.

03.14am
Vickie is out to berate him, and is interrupted by choir music and a bunch of druids wheeling a huge coffin. Show is pissing himself laughing, which looks like overacting, which suggests SHENANIGANS to me. (I love that word, so I capitalised it.)

His celebratory attitude would work if Vickie looked freaked out, but she doesn’t. One of them has missed the pitch of this, but I don’t know which. Mind you, in indicating to her that she’ll be kicked out he raised a chuckle from me.

03.17am
Taker on the big screen. Threatening Vickie with murder. Well, he got away with killing Edge, apparently, so he might as well go for 2-0.

Show hold Vickie while Taker now approaches. I’m sure Show will nail Taker now, but let’s see. There is just too much hamming going on in the ring for there not to be a swerve. Vickie bolts but Show retrieves her. Is Show now an acolyte or something?

Taker takes an eternity to get to the ring as normal, which must be great news for CM Punk, trying to come to in the back.

03.20am
Look at the time-checks I’m going on this to see how long this is taking. Talk about padding this out.

Taker taking his hat off........

03.22am
Show attacks Taker. Wow, didn’t see that coming (note sarcasm). They just make things so bloody obvious. Show was blatantly hovering and waiting for Taker, and his overacting (both his and Vickie’s overacting, actually) ended up telegraphing this.

03.26am
Show finishes his slow, rather dull, attack on Taker. JR says that if this was a boxing match it would have been stopped. Or, Jim, a wrestling match with no rules. They get stopped too.

Vickie slaps Taker after Show held him, and then spits on him. Big Show leaves with Vickie, and completes the 375th heel turn of his WWE career.

03.28am
Segment ends. That was like 17 minutes.

03.32am
After Regal tells Adamle to look no further than him to replace Punk, we go to the ring for Batista and JBL to start the match. This is going to be an exciting five minutes............

Oh, and they flashed up and went through the rules of the match. Good Lord. You made the rules daft, then made them better, and now you can’t stop telling us. We’ve seen two scramble matches (two very good scramble matches) we know the f’n rules.

03.35am
Match (20 minute duration) starts with 25 minutes of the PPV to go by my watch.

03.42am
Dull, big man stuff so far. Kane chokeslams JBL to become interim champ just before Rey is in next. I make that 8 minutes so far, not ten.

03.45am
Rey has a huge Mohawk, but I can’t tell if it’s a Shannon Moore-like ‘do, or part of his mask outfit. Either way, Kane is owning him right now.

03.47am
No Punk...........it’s Jericho. He is selling the beating, and after a minute hasn’t hit the ring. They are well under time here.

This one has really dragged. They’ve run out of ideas. Many have said that the scramble was a good idea but three was overkill. Spot on, from what I can see.

03.49am
Three minutes on the clock, Jericho hasn’t entered yet. Still Kane as champ as we stand. Rey’s haircut is his own hair. That’s how dull the match is, I’m looking at hairstyles.

03.50am
Two to go, big moves being hit and no falls. Jericho to steal it?

03.51am
Kane gets a two count on Batista. More idiocy. 60 seconds left.

03.52am
It’s over. And our champion is............Chris Jericho. O...........K. What the hell happened there?

I don’t know if I’m happy or not. What I will say is that I like the idea that something huge happens on a PPV and people who didn’t watch go “shoot, I wish I’d seen that.”

I exchanged texts with a mate while that match was ongoing, and we listed Michaels, Christian Cage, Edge, Regal, Show, Kofi, Sid Justice, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton and even Mike Adamle himself.

Some were legit shouts, many were just us having a joke, but we left out Jericho. I thought Orton looked likely, but in the end it was the Russo swerve – i.e. it was surprising, but made little sense. Why would Adamle select Jericho exactly?

The match was terrible, but I suppose it was never going to be great, and won’t be remembered because the finish will override the memory of the match itself.

Batista looked the most pissed off, so perhaps he is the first in line.

Looking forward to Raw. Lots to explain and clear up. Next PPV in 4 weeks. Should be interesting.


00.57am
Hang on, give me a minute. I’m just booking my holiday. Worksop, Leamington Spa.....it’s all glamour, you know.

01.00am
Ok, here we go. Unforgiven, the PPV with the fake name that brings out the pedant in me. Unforgiven is not a word, dammit. I blame Clint Eastwood. Or whoever was in Unforgiven. I haven’t time to fact check, I’m working.

01.02am
Interesting video focussed a lot of attention on Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels. Maybe they are going with that as the main event. Which is cool and all, but the impact will be lessened by the fact that last month’s main event wasn’t a title match either.

01.03am
Wow, a genuine PPV first as Todd Grisham is the first voice we hear for Unforgiven. I’m pleased for Grisham and Striker that they have been pretty good in their opening weeks on ECW, and makes ECW feel like the breeding ground for announcers as well as wrestlers.

01.04am
We start with Matt Hardy and The Miz for the first section of the ECW scramble, which as you have probably gathered opens the show. They talk about The Miz being known as a chick magnet, which is where the CM of CM Punk comes from. The CM, contrary to popular belief, does not stand for “Craves Momentum”.

01.08am
We could do with a clock, here, you know folks. The commentators are talking about things happening early, but we don’t know timings.

01.10am
Shortly after Striker name checks Pat Patterson as inventing the scramble concept (presumably five men coming at regular intervals is attractive to him) Miz hits the Reality Check but Matt rolls to the outside. The commentators say how clever that was of Matt to roll away to avoid being pinned. Hang on, if he has enough energy couldn’t he just kick out?

01.11am
On the Nelson it’s Chavo, and within seconds he has rolled Miz to the outside and frog-splashed Matt to gain the first pinfall. I like that, it was a logical pin without making someone looking really weak and emphasised Chavo’s sneaky, Guerrero-patented lying, cheating and stealing.

01.14am
This match is ticking along nicely. Chavo hid a cracking rolling kick which Striker referred to as a Lyger Kick, and Miz hit a cool double cross-body. Matt nails Miz with a Side Effect and picks up a fall. Matt is interim champion.

01.16am
Big Mark (I can’t called him Mizark, can I, because Mike Mizanin is in this match) Henry is next, and the other three gang up but get dominated to begin with, Andre/Big Show style.

01.17am
Henry picks up Chavo and drops him, all of his weight crushing Chavo beneath him. Henry is interim champion. Noticeable that for the three falls so far a different man has been pinned each time.

01.19am
I’m sure it wasn’t intended, but Striker talked about Henry’s X-Factor. Which was a move and faction devised by X-Pac, Sean Waltman. Mizark, as I mentioned earlier, was a nickname for Henry coined by the Nation Parody by DX, and it was Waltman who dressed as Mizark Henry.

01.21am
Finlay, to a big ovation, is next, and is all over Henry. We now have a clock, people.

01.22am
Right, the action is quick but I have lots of points to make. Firstly Finlay clocked Henry twice with the shillelagh, while the ref’s back was turned. Can you get DQ-ed? Surely not.

Finlay and Matt get Henry out of the ring, and Finlay strikes the North Carolinian with the Celtic Cross. Everyone has been champ thus far. Finlay is temporary champ.

01.24am
Not for long, Hardy pins Miz (I think) and is now desperately preventing other pinfalls. Miz has a huge gash on his head from somewhere. This is mayhem.

01.26am
You know what, I loved that. Aside from the huge logic hole of disqualification, that was very entertaining and performed sensible with logic at frequent points. Henry was not pinned at all.

It should be said that the commentators were tremendous. Absolutely superb. They pieced the thing together, and although they had the odd slip which I picked up on, for the most part they kept it moving, and picked up their excitement towards the end. It will be interesting not just to see the contrast of the matches but also the commentary.

The crowd were well into that too, by the way.

01.30am
Their usual rip-off, dah, I mean AT&T text poll, asks whether Vickie Guererro was right to not allow Big Show into the scramble match for Smackdown. Does that mean that he will show up?

01.32am
Cody and Ted’s big adventure continues against the 1980s heel but new millennium babyfaces Cryme Tyme. I miss Repo Man, he would have got on so well with Shad and JTG.

Cole calls Rhodes and DiBiase brash and arrogant. Yeah, because Cryme Tyme as so mellow and modest aren’t they?

Sorry, I’ll leave off the commentators a bit.

01.34am
Early offence by Cryme Tyme, including big Shad sending both opponents outside with a double clothesline, then JTG being propelled in the air by his partner over the top to take out both Ted and Cody. Cody may have genuinely hurt his arm. His bump was odd.

01.44am
Another one goes above expectations. I thought this was a really fun tag match, which moved along really steadily which a neat little finish to it. Hang on a minute.......

01.46am
OK, that was odd. Ted and Cody were getting beaten up post-match but some guy came and saved them. The guy looked like a white Haku, or was Carlito on the Big Daddy V diet. Judging by the fact that he is in developmental and would fit the second generation theme, I would think that it was Afa Jr. I’d think they’d give him a name and just say he’s Afa’s boy, though.

Back to the match, I did really enjoy it. I thought both teams came off looking just that – TEAMS. Good teamwork, good character progression (especially the heels) and a finish which made Cody and Ted bigger heels but didn’t hurt Cryme Tyme.

Just one big fault – what the hell was Cody’s moonsault all about. He didn’t need to do it, logically, in the bout, and sold it like an idiot. Actually elicited a laugh from the audience.

01.50am
Footage of Shawn being taped up before a cool recap of Jericho v Shawn. If you need this recap then where have you been and why are you buying this PPV. Perhaps you are a blogger on Wrestlign who doesn’t do their job properly. (I’ll let you work out who that is)

01.51am
The unsanctioned match is next, and they are explaining it as that both guys have signed agreements stopping each man suing each other or WWE for any injuries and preventing any liability.

Still doesn’t make it unsanctioned, but we’ll let it slide.

I’m guessing this will be followed by the SD scramble, then a short divas interlude before Raw’s title match.

If you’ll excuse me, I may simply watch this one uninterrupted and report back at the end. I’m not a play-by-play guy.

02.27am
I’m frustrated beyond belief. Mostly this was very, very good, bordering on terrific. Mainly, though, I can’t stop thinking about the holes that riddled this performance that for me have blighted it.

Firstly, I want to say that I don’t blame either competitor. Shawn Michaels, an injured man don’t forget, was tremendous. Jericho not far behind. The intensity was off the charts and I actually liked the emotion of Shawn’s which I would normally find to be over the top.

Second, Michaels leaving as the man standing and Jericho down was the right thing to do. HBK needed retribution of some sort otherwise Jericho would be dominating the thing too much.

Lastly, I like the fact that this leaves the room open for this to logically carry on.

My problems.......are many.

Firstly, Lance Cade interfering just watered things down. I’d have liked to seen him either told that if he interfered he’d be suspended or for someone to put him out of commission. More on that in a minute.

Next, the match was supposed to be the culmination of both men’s hate for each other, and something beyond wrestling. The emotion was there for that, but when HBK was in that much peril, holding his eye, with a torn tricep, if we follow things through, wouldn’t Triple H have given Shawn a hand? At two on one, couldn’t Triple H have evened the score. Beyond wrestling, remember. A true friend wouldn’t let their buddy risk his career, his quality of life, like that.

Triple H could have at least taken out Cade, pre-match or during it.

I have many more things I could go into, but the next match is nearly starting and I’m still typing. I will, though, have a huge go at the decision of how to end the match. Lillian, even putting on a little more emotion herself, in the preamble said “this match can only end in pinfall or submission.” And the ref stopped it.

The ref, Marty Elias, actually made an unintentional funny during the match when he asked Cade and Jericho “What are you doing?” Err, trying to hurt the guy, Marty, you idiot.

No-one wanted it to end like, and it just made them all look stupid. Why couldn’t Michaels have suddenly become overcome by the emotion and walked to the back. That would have been far better than the ref going against the ENTIRE POINT of the unsanctioned stipulation. No skin off the ref’s nose if one man gets hurt.

So frustrating. Mostly good, but so flawed at the same time.


02.35am
Let’s catch up. Shelton and Jeff Hardy have started the Smackdown title match. No falls yet. During the break between matches we saw a very, very good backstage bit with Randy Orton meeting Cody, Ted and man we now have confirmed as son of Afa, but it seemed they called him Monya, or something similar. They explained his background.

They faced Orton and said that he now had to be impressed, but he laid into them for being too self congratulatory. I like the feel to this and it’s good to keep Orton involved in this manner.

02.37am
Ok, competitor three is joining in, and it’s Kendrick, along with big Zeke. No action to call as yet.

02.40am
Jeff picks up a pinfall over Kendrick with his new Powerbomb into a faceplant move. I recall it may have Tori’s finisher some years ago.

02.41am
Jeff tried to pin Shelton, and JR commended Hardy’s attitude. Which is doubly idiotic, because Jeff doesn’t get two ahead by getting an extra pin. It’s not an ironman match.

02.42am
Quickly after the above foolishness, Shelton hits paydirt (ridiculous name) but Kendrick breaks up the count. This actually makes sense, because Kendrick can then hit Sliced Bread (I’m not calling it The Kendrick. That’s like Shelton’s finisher being called The Benjamin, or Triple H’s being “The Helmsley”

Anyway, Kendrick is now the interim champion, a term which makes more sense than current champion, but one they seem to have abandoned.

02.45am
MVP entered a couple of minutes ago, and much like the first Scramble things are escalating. More moves being hit, with Kendrick looking particularly good. Impressive for him since this is his first time at this level. If someone had told you six months ago that Brian Kendrick (the artist formerly known as Spanky) would be starring at a PPV in a WWE Title match you’d have laughed and suggested that maybe Paul London would be UFC Heavyweight champion, then.

02.48am
Big reaction for Triple H. On one hand it could be easy to criticise Triple H for coming into this last (I sort of did in my preview) but at least it gave the other guys a chance to shine.

02.49am
With just over four minutes left Triple H pedigrees, and pins, Brian Kendrick. The Game is back in the saddle.

02.51am
With about three minutes to go, Hardy pins MVP after a Twist of Fate, and is Champeen again. Hardy takes too much of a Sliced Brian (I’ve compromised) he was supposed to avoid then gets stitched up by Triple H.

Nice little exchange here, because Triple H beat Kendrick again with a Pedigree, but while he was recovering from his exertions, Jeff hit a Swanton and went back in control.

02.53am
Hardy took Triple H to the outside and hit a plancha, leaving the other three to do an amazing tower of doom spot, initiated by Shelton.

Back in, Hardy cleaned house, hitting another Swanton, but left Triple H to pedigree MVP to get the pin with one second left. Hardy actually did a really clever thing which went unappreciated, which was that he cover Shelton, but the announcers never called it. The theory, as I saw it, was that as soon as Triple H finished his cover Hardy could get his. They didn’t call it though.

02.54am
Great stuff. This was really slow for ten minutes, but perhaps that helps because you get the slow build and the anticipation rises.

Post match Triple H and Jeff Hardy acknowledged how close they were to losing and winning respectively, and shook hands mid ring. Nice touch, except that if the two of them face-off next PPV, we’ll probably get the old ‘respect’ thing for a month and have a cold build up to a match which would be better if they had a spark. Maybe they will, we’ll see.

03.01am
More backstage stuff, and we get a great promo by Michaels which basically confirms that Jericho and he will keep going for a bit yet.

Next, Punk is interviewed by Eve (and was booed a little when he appeared) and the obligatory interruption comes from Orton. Nice to and fro before it’s Ted and ‘Fro.....and Cody, who interject. Yeah, that was a little weak, I’m sorry.

The Tag Champs plus their new buddy beat down Punk, and Kofi comes to help but to no avail. So Kofi can help Punk who he has never acknowledged on TV, but Triple H doesn’t assist Shawn. Ok then.

Orton tees off on Punk’s head with a great kick which the camera caught splendidly, and the heels leave, with Orton telling the other guys that he found those actions truly impressive.

03.05am
Back in the ring, we are several minutes into a very important segment. This audience have to get some refreshments at some point.

Maryse and Michelle are having a snoozefest of sloppy ‘wrestling’, with even a ‘boring’ chant being beyond the audience.

Michelle is so devoid of emotion, talent and charisma there is no reason to support her. Maryse, to her part, is a vaguely decent heel. Can’t wrestle though. Maryse actually wouldn’t be out of place in the Beautiful People in TNA.

03.08am
Michelle wins. Four people cheer.

03.11am
Adamle announces that after Punk was attacked he mightn’t be able to compete. He says he might have to find a suitable replacement.

Soon, Show comes out to offer Adamle his services. By the way, Adamle didn’t say if the title is still on the line if Punk doesn’t compete. It seems that it surely would be, but nothing was confirmed.

Show doesn’t talk long, but asks the fans if he should be in the scramble match. They sheer halfheartedly, and he reacts as though they went bananas. Poo Show. I love the guy, but he’s just doomed to apathy.

03.14am
Vickie is out to berate him, and is interrupted by choir music and a bunch of druids wheeling a huge coffin. Show is pissing himself laughing, which looks like overacting, which suggests SHENANIGANS to me. (I love that word, so I capitalised it.)

His celebratory attitude would work if Vickie looked freaked out, but she doesn’t. One of them has missed the pitch of this, but I don’t know which. Mind you, in indicating to her that she’ll be kicked out he raised a chuckle from me.

03.17am
Taker on the big screen. Threatening Vickie with murder. Well, he got away with killing Edge, apparently, so he might as well go for 2-0.

Show hold Vickie while Taker now approaches. I’m sure Show will nail Taker now, but let’s see. There is just too much hamming going on in the ring for there not to be a swerve. Vickie bolts but Show retrieves her. Is Show now an acolyte or something?

Taker takes an eternity to get to the ring as normal, which must be great news for CM Punk, trying to come to in the back.

03.20am
Look at the time-checks I’m going on this to see how long this is taking. Talk about padding this out.

Taker taking his hat off........

03.22am
Show attacks Taker. Wow, didn’t see that coming (note sarcasm). They just make things so bloody obvious. Show was blatantly hovering and waiting for Taker, and his overacting (both his and Vickie’s overacting, actually) ended up telegraphing this.

03.26am
Show finishes his slow, rather dull, attack on Taker. JR says that if this was a boxing match it would have been stopped. Or, Jim, a wrestling match with no rules. They get stopped too.

Vickie slaps Taker after Show held him, and then spits on him. Big Show leaves with Vickie, and completes the 375th heel turn of his WWE career.

03.28am
Segment ends. That was like 17 minutes.

03.32am
After Regal tells Adamle to look no further than him to replace Punk, we go to the ring for Batista and JBL to start the match. This is going to be an exciting five minutes............

Oh, and they flashed up and went through the rules of the match. Good Lord. You made the rules daft, then made them better, and now you can’t stop telling us. We’ve seen two scramble matches (two very good scramble matches) we know the f’n rules.

03.35am
Match (20 minute duration) starts with 25 minutes of the PPV to go by my watch.

03.42am
Dull, big man stuff so far. Kane chokeslams JBL to become interim champ just before Rey is in next. I make that 8 minutes so far, not ten.

03.45am
Rey has a huge Mohawk, but I can’t tell if it’s a Shannon Moore-like ‘do, or part of his mask outfit. Either way, Kane is owning him right now.

03.47am
No Punk...........it’s Jericho. He is selling the beating, and after a minute hasn’t hit the ring. They are well under time here.

This one has really dragged. They’ve run out of ideas. Many have said that the scramble was a good idea but three was overkill. Spot on, from what I can see.

03.49am
Three minutes on the clock, Jericho hasn’t entered yet. Still Kane as champ as we stand. Rey’s haircut is his own hair. That’s how dull the match is, I’m looking at hairstyles.

03.50am
Two to go, big moves being hit and no falls. Jericho to steal it?

03.51am
Kane gets a two count on Batista. More idiocy. 60 seconds left.

03.52am
It’s over. And our champion is............Chris Jericho. O...........K. What the hell happened there?

I don’t know if I’m happy or not. What I will say is that I like the idea that something huge happens on a PPV and people who didn’t watch go “shoot, I wish I’d seen that.”

I exchanged texts with a mate while that match was ongoing, and we listed Michaels, Christian Cage, Edge, Regal, Show, Kofi, Sid Justice, Rob Van Dam, Randy Orton and even Mike Adamle himself.

Some were legit shouts, many were just us having a joke, but we left out Jericho. I thought Orton looked likely, but in the end it was the Russo swerve – i.e. it was surprising, but made little sense. Why would Adamle select Jericho exactly?

The match was terrible, but I suppose it was never going to be great, and won’t be remembered because the finish will override the memory of the match itself.

Batista looked the most pissed off, so perhaps he is the first in line.

Looking forward to Raw. Lots to explain and clear up. Next PPV in 4 weeks. Should be interesting.